Supercharger arrangement



May 10, 1938. Q H AUGER SUPERCHARGER ARRANGEMENT Filed June 2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor: yCkwxczle H. Au en. e/ fu! Hts Attorney May 10, 1938. H. AUGER 2,117,131

SUPERCHARGER ARRANGEMENT v Filed June ,2l 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. Z..

Invento-r:

'Claude H. Au er; bg H is Atowneg.

`Patented May 10,

UNlTlazDV STATES Claude H. Auger, Sangue, Mass., assignmto General' Electric Company, a corporation of New York I Appucatipp Jupe 2.1936, sei-a1 No. 83,067

y z clams. (ci. 23o-116) The present invention relates to supercharger arrangements vfor internal combustion engines such as are used for operating aircrafts. More specically, the invention relates. to the kind of supercharger arrangements inwhich a supercharger or centrifugal blower is driven by a gas turbine having a nozzle box receiving gases from the exhaust manifold of any internal combustion engine.

The object of m invention is to provide an improved construct on of such supercharger arrangements whereby astandard type of centrifugal blower and gas turbine may be produced for use in connection with various types of internal l5 combustion engines and whereby suchblower and a gas turbine `may be easily assembled with different internal combustion engines. f

This is accomplished in accordance with my invention by the provision of a supercharger having a casing made up of two flanged parts" bolted together with one of said parts denlng an inlet opening for admitting medium to be compressed and the other part defining an outlet opening for discharging compressed air or like medium.- In

g5 other words, the inlet is completely formed. on one casing part and the outlet in the other cas'i ingv part. This permits relative positioning oi'- the inlet and outlet by turning the two casings relative to each other along their iianged portions. The nozzle box for conducting gases. to

a turbine wheel for driving the blower in accordance with my invention `is adjustably secu'red to the casing of the centrifugal blower so that the nozzle box may be turned into any desirable position and consequently the inlet to the nozzle box adjusted relatively vto the inlet and the outlet of.

the blower. For a better understanding of what I believe to be novel and my invention; attention is di- 40 rected to the following description and the claims appended thereto in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Fig. n1 ts a sectional' view of a supercharger arrangement for internal 115 combustion engines embodying .my invention. and

Fig. l2 shows a front view partly broken away of The arrangement comprises a centrifugal type blower shown on the left-hand side ofthe drawing and a gas turbine for operating the blower in `dicated on the righthand side of the drawing.

- The blowerhas a oftwopartaor 'portions Il and II withilanges I2whicharesecured together by a plurality of bolts I3. The casingporonlldenesasoroll Ilwitliailangedspaced bolts 2|.

outlet opening I5. The part II forms an' inlet chamber I6 with an inlet opening. II provided with ears or lugs Ila flanged to an inlet conduit Ilb. 'I'he adjacent walls of the two parts dene an impeller chamber I8 for accommodating 5 an impeller I9 and diifuser vanes I9a. The latter are integrally united with one of the parts.4 The impeller I9 is secured to and driven by a drive shaft 20. During operation air or like me` dium ows through the inlet I1 to the inlet cham- 1o ber I6, whence it is forced through the impeller chamber and the diffuser into the scroll I I to be discharged through the outlet opening I5. An important feature of the arrangement is the complete formation or the inlet n and the outlet l5 1s v' 1n the separate casing parts or portions Ill and I I i and the uniting ofthese two parts by means of an annular flange. This permits relative positionlng 'of the inlet I1 and the outlet I5. For example. in the present instance the inlet and the 20 outlet are adjacent each other. If it is desired to arrange them at angular degrees, all that is necessary is to remove the bolts I 3 and turn one -of the casing parts I0, II by 90 degrees. In the,

present instance the two flanges are united by 25 '24 bolts uniformly spaced apart, permitting an adjustability of 15 degrees. During angular ad-4 justment of the casing pax-tsl III and ll the conf duits connected to the inlet I1 and the outlet I5 aredisconnected. .As clearly shown in Fig. 2 30 the inlet I1 with the ears I'Ia is circular with its center on the axis of the blower. This is necessaryto permit the ears I'Ia to pus the flange of the outlet. I5 when rotated.

The left-hand end of the. shaft portion is sup- 35 A y P0rted by an anti-friction bearing 2l disposed in a bearing chamber 22. The .chamber is dened by the casing part Il and by a cap 2l secured to the casing part Il by a plurality of uniformly Lubricant is conducted to the 40 bearing chamber by a grease inlet tube 25 and dischargedwtherefrom throughan overilow tube,

In the present instance the cap 23 is hanged toananged portion 21 of thecasingandsecured thereto bymeans offour bolts 2l. This permits 45 an adiustability as regards the relative position of the cap and the casing of 90 degrees, mal:-- ing it possible to have thegrease inlet and over flow tube 25 and 25 always extending ln down- -ward direction. irrespective of the position of 50 theoutlet I5 of the supercharger. It, for -in stance,thecasingpart Il weretobeturnedby degrees in order to have the outlet tl exthe turning of the casing part I5 and to assemble the bolts 24 after the casing part I8 had been is supported by an anti-friction bearing in the present instance a roller bearing 28 disposed in a bearing chamber 29 receiving lubricant through a cast-in grease tube 30. The bearing chamber 29. is completely surrounded by the inlet chamber i6. Air or like medium flows through the inlet i'l to the inlet chamber I6, whence it flows around the bearing chamber 29 and enters the impeller chamber. This permits relative positioning of the inlet i1 and the outlet I 5 to suit various different types of installation where such' supercharger may bc used. It also provides thorough cooling of the bearing chamber 29 and the lubricant contained therein. l

The blower is operated by a gas turbine which has a bucket wheel 3l secured to an overhungportion of the shaft 20. In present instance the bucket wheel has a solid disk carrying at its outer circumference a row of buckets' 82. A central portion of the disk is centered with and fastened to a ange 83 formed on an overhung portion of the shaft. The fastening is accomplished by means of a plurality of bolts 34 having heads 85 sunk inthe outer surface of the disk to reduce wind resistance. In order to avoid excessive weakening of the disk. the heads 35 have rounded, inner portions forming substantially spherical surfaces and fitting into rounded or spherical recesses 88 of the surface of the disk. Adjacent portions of the disk and the anged shaft member 23 define an opening or openings 3'! commu'- nicating with a central bore in the shaft. During operation, a stream of air flows through the-shaft bore, the opening 81 and along the inner surface of the disk thus effecting cooling of the latter. Gases are conducted to the turbine wheel by a nozzle box- 38 having a nozzle diaphragm with ,an annular row of nozzle blades or partitions held between an outer nozzle ring 48 andan inner nozzle ring 4I. the casing of the nozzle box and are secured thereto by welds 42 and 43 respectively. The nozzle box has an inlet 44 (Fig. 2) for receiving gases, for instance exhaust gases, from the exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine (not shown), Depending upon the relative location of the exhaust manifold of the internal combustion engine to which the nozzle box inlet 44 is to be connected, itis at times desirable `to have this inlet 44 positioned on the righthandside as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. At other times it becomes desirable to have .the inlet on the opposite side or' in an intermediate position.

.'Ihis is accomplished by my invention by the provision of means for adjustably securing the nozzle box to the casing of the centrifugal blower. In the present instance `4 studs 45 are' secured to the outer wall of the part H of the blower casing and locked inposition by pins 48. The nozzle.

box, more specifically the inner nozzle ring 4l, is provided on its outer surface with a ring' dl secured thereto by welds 48. This ring is fastened to the aforementioned studs 65 by means of The nozzle rings form a part of il adjacent the nozzle .box is covered with lagging 5l. The clearance between the bucket ywheel and the nozzle box may be adjusted by changing shims 52 kbetween the clamp ring 49 and the studs 45. Furthermore, the number .and lengths of ducts or conduits connecting the supercharger with the outside of the engine housing for the A purpose of conveying air to the supercharger and A for cooling the bearings is reduced to a minimum by disposing the inlet side of the supercharger adjacent the turbine. For example, when a double inlet supercharger is used, taking air on both sides of the-impeller, two ducts are-required. If the single inlet supercharger is used and the single inlet is in the half of the casing removed from the turbine, there will be required one duct for the supercharger intake and another duct to provide air for cooling the bearing casing adjacent the hot turbine wheel. By having the inlet duct in the casing half adjacent the turbine, one duct will serve for supplying the inlet to the supercharger, and coolingthe bearing as well.

In certain cases, it is desirable to provide for adjustability of the supercharger structure as a whole and the airplane structure, and in certain other cases, it is desirable to adjust the outlet of the supercharger and at the same time to maintain the inlet of the supercharger in a fixed position. This is accomplished in accordance with another feature of my invention.. by the provision of means for adjustably connecting the supercharger structure to the airplane structure. As shown .in the drawings, the outlet casing half of the centrifugal blower has a plurality of lugs 55 which are fastened to a ring 58 by means of a plurality of bolts 51. 'I'he ring 50 has a pluf rality 'of openings 58 for receiving the bolts 51, and the ring is secured to an element 59 forming a part of the airplane structure by meansof a weld' 80. The number of openings 58 in the ring 58 is a multiple of the number of lugs 55. This arrangement permits adjustability of supercharger structure on the airplane, -the degree of which is determined by the angular distance between adjacent openings 58.

With my invention, I have accomplished an improved construction of supercharger arrangements including centrifugal blowers and gas turbines for internal combustion engines whereby vsuch arrangements may be readily adjusted. as

. regards. the inlets and outlets of the centrifugal blower and the gas turbine. This has distinct advantages in that it renders such arrangements readily adaptable for use in connections with different internal combustion engines, thus constituting. in substance a universalsupercharger arrangement.

Having described the method of operation of my invention. together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof', .I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention may be carried out by other means.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States. is.-

1'. Asupercharger arrangement for internal combustion engines including the combination of a centrifugal blower having a casing and a shaft, a gas turbine for driving the blower including a bucket wheel secured to the shaft, a nozzle box having an inlet for receiving gases -and a ring of nozzles for discharging gases to the bucket wheel, means for adjustably securing the nozzle box to the blower, said means compris inga plurality of studs secured to the blower casing, a ring secured to the .neme box. and chamber for the bearing surrounding the shaft clamping means for fastening the ring to the and an inlet e "to said impeller, said inlet studs. passage being disposed between said impeller and 2. Super-charger arrangement for internal comsaid exhaust turbine and enclosing at least partly ustion engines including a casing, an impeller the bearing and the grease chamber adjacent 5 in the casing, an exhaust gas turbine, the wheel .the turbine wheel. oi which is mounted on the same shaft as the CLAUDE H. AUGER. impeller, bearings supportlng said shaft. a grease 

